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This thread is just to report audio related issues. Did L6.16 fix your audio issues or did it make them worse? Please be constructive and specific to your experiences.

When reporting back success or failure, please indicate what channels or shows you were experiencing your audio issues and the area you are reporting from. This will help with the feedback process.

Also, be sure to mention what your previous version was since we might have people going from L6.15 to L6.16 and from L6.14 to L6.16.

If you are having issues specify whether they use OTA or not. Seems to be a belief that people that are still experiencing the issues is related to having OTA connected and this will help collaborate this theory.

Edited by Ron Barry, 06 January 2009 - 06:51 PM.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

On my box L6.15 did fix the major audio dropout problem on Fox and ABC as it stopped the dropouts from causing my A/V receiver from turning the dolby off/on. L6.15 also seemed to significantly reduce the number of dropouts on Fox and ABC. However, it left me with less frequent audio dropouts on ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, HBO, Starz, and Sci-Fi that I know of. These L6.15 dropouts when skipped back would sometimes disappear, sometimes remain as first heard, and sometimes would change syllables. They were sometimes annoying, but not really disruptive.

Compared to last week, I have loaded up my 722 recording schedule. I have great hopes that we will hear no dropouts on any new recordings.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

"In a hundred years there'll be a whole new set of people."
"Always poke the bears. They sleep too much for their own good."

Sadly, initial testing indicates no change with 6.16 on my 722. I am watching NCIS on the local CBS HD channel via sat. It is buffered by about 15 minutes and there are numerous audio dropouts (perhaps 2 per minute). DD5.1 pilot flashes with each dropout.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

I am sorry dishcustomer722, but there will be no flogging of Dish Engineers. We are in a no bash/ No flogging zone in the support forums. We tend to try and keep to providing our experiences and as much feedback in hopes that this will lend to help identify and fix issues found.

Based on the multiple audio threads we have had here, this one is definitely a nasty one and I think we are looking at possible multiple issues so the more information we provide in terms of what we are seeing, what channels it is on, what type of hardware we have, how we have things configured, and what DMA we are in the better.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

Yes, I sure do. I have even recorded the events simultaneously. When I do this, the OTA versions contain absolutely no dropouts.

I can further confirm that buffered NBC local HD (via sat) events also have dropouts just like CBS. I'm viewing Law & Order SVU buffered and the drops are plentiful.

In summary, 6.14 had drops only on ABC & Fox while 6.15 and 6.16 have drops only on NBC & CBS. So it appears as if the issue has truly migrated from 720p to 1080i---at least for me, but limited to the 722. The 622 still seems dropout-free at first glance (as was the case with 6.15) but I will test further this evening as it's in the bedroom.

There must be something else, other than drive size, that distinguishes a 622 from a 722.

We began the evening by watching directly from the EHD an episode of a series from HBO recorded two months ago and moved to the EHD. The three previous episodes all had dropouts using L6.15. Then we watched "Leverage" recorded tonight from TNT. The past two episodes using L6.15 had dropouts, two dropouts and one dropout. Tonight, no dropouts on the cable channel recordings. Imagine the hope building in my mind.

Next, we turned to tonight's "NCIS" (on CBS Bay Area, satellite). One repeatable dropout in the program, but with a never-been-seen-before odd slight video stall.

So rather than switch networks, we watched tonight's recording of "The Mentalist" on CBS already 54 minutes into the show. There were a total of 4 dropouts in the show and I deliberately, with great pain, watched one batch of commercials which had a dropout. When the first dropout occurred I immediately skipped back. When it got to the dropout point again, it froze up completely. I was able to FF ahead, then back to the beginning. The dropout occurred in the same place and it also had a video stall exactly at the dropout point. Each and every one had a repeatable simultaneous audio dropout with video stall. Fortunately, whatever I did on the first one to cause the freeze didn't happen again.

Tomorrow, we will start with L&O:SVU (NBC) followed by the two episodes of Scrubs (ABC) all recorded this evening. We'll probably watch T.. ...ples Choice Awards (CBS) after that.

Just a quick historical run through.

L4.49 was reported to have caused dropouts on 622's as early as March 2008, but if it did on my 722, I was not aware of them.

L5.12/L6.10/L6.12/L6.14 had really bad dropouts on ABC and Fox and occasional dropouts on CBS and NBC, but with no visible video effects. This was on the ViP722 I sent Echostar Engineering and on the one they replaced it with.

L6.15 made the ABC and Fox dropouts quit switching the dolby off/on and appeared to reduce the number of dropouts on those stations to nearly none. The dropouts on CBS and NBC were still there and may have increased in number. Unfortunately, I started getting very slight occasional dropouts on the cable channel recordings.

With L6.16 the cable channel recording slight dropouts seem to have disappeared. But on CBS, the dropouts now come with a short video stall.

I'm am, of course, frustrated as I am sure everyone else is. Exactly what happened between L4.48 and L4.49 (or L5.12) that altered the way the stream was handled?

And P Smith - if the 622 has a 2xBCM7411 and the 722 has a 2xBCM7412, what does the 612 use? My 612 has the dropouts, but they are much less disruptive and have never turned the dolby off/on. (So far, they haven't messed with it, thank you very much.)

So far, my 622 remains dropout free. Perhaps this is due to the different decoders. If that's the case, my particular pain with my 722 (along with others) must be caused by a combination of the decoder and something else unique about the St. Louis (and select other) DMA.

Whatever is going on here, we need to keep in mind that this issue was introduced by a software update. Release 4.49 worked well on both DVRs with no drops. This issue raised its ugly head about the same time that TURBO HD was introduced.

Excellent Feedback so far . Pherlin, I assume that you did a hard reset to make sure there is nothing left behind with L6.15 that might effect L6.16.

I am sure over a weeks time we will get a better feel of where we are at in the audio stream issue some are seeing. Keep up the good work. Would have loved to have heard we have a slam dunk but given the nature of this one and the fact it is not widespread it does not surprise me some work is still needed.

Edited by Ron Barry, 07 January 2009 - 10:42 AM.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

On NBC, "Law & Order:SVU" had two definite repeatable dropouts with no video effects that were in the same location when skipped back. Surprisingly, "Without a Trace" on CBS, the third CBS show recorded Tuesday night, had no dropouts unlike the other two. And as expected "Scrubs" on ABC was dropout free. We even sat through some commercials during "Scrubs" just to make sure.

As for the portion of tonights "The Peoples Choice Awards" on CBS, like all live taped shows there were no dropouts. And since we don't get FX in HD yet (hint hint Dish), "Damages" was irrelevant though good.

Over the next two weeks our "locals" recording schedule will start to fill up. Fox really won't kick in for a week, but by the end of the month we should have a pretty good test of L6.16 on our 722. But it's clear that on our box recording Bay Area DMA locals off the satellite, CBS and NBC will still have infrequent dropouts. Whether I or anyone else will see the associated video stall on CBS again is likely to be clear by next Monday night. That may have been an unrelated problem. Who knows?

Figured you did the reboot Phrelin, but wanted to make sure we had a clean slate here.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

As with previous reports, the show we watched on NBC last night had two dropouts. They were skip back repeatable in the same location and did cause the dolby to switch off/on. We watched 2½ hours of ABC programming and there was one dropout, repeatable, same location, but instantaneous and did not affect the dolby.

Do you have folders turned on for your Internal recording? If you do you should see them on the EHD. Need to have the same show on the EHD to see them.

<strong class='bbc'>New Member of the 9K club & 922/612 User<br /></strong><span style='font-size: 8px;'>"A release is not a release until it is released." - Me. <br />"To the true believer, no proof is necessary. To the non believer, no proof is sufficient." - Peter James (Derived from a Stewert Chase Quote)</span>

I received an email from the Dish/Echostar folks this morning requesting feedback on the new software. The following is my reply:

Happy New Year everyone.

I don't know that you all really want to hear from me. But the following is a summary of what I regularly have been posting about at DBSTalk's ViP622/ViP722 - L6.16 Audio Related Issues Discussions thread:

Based on L6.15 and L6.16 on our ViP722 you're moving the audio dropout problem around between sources, and altering it's impact on our A/V receiver dolby. It does appear you have almost completely eliminated the problem on ABC and Fox where it originally appeared after either L4.49 or L5.12.

Because of the holiday schedules, we haven't recorded as much as usual. We have played back directly off the EHD some episodes of shows and we have played back from the internal hard drive some episodes of shows recorded under both L6.15 and L6.16.

L6.16 has resulted in the dropouts on cable channels to cease. These had been worse under L6.15 than any other version.

L6.16 has continued the reduction of dropouts on ABC to an average of less than one per hour and minimized the effect to the point the dolby does not turn off.on.

L6.15 increased the average dropout average frequency per hour on NBC to approximately two and L6.16 has resulted in those dropouts causing the dolby to switch off/on.

L6.15 increased the average dropout average frequency per hour on CBS to approximately two and L6.16 resulted in video stalls on those.

We have not watched anything from Fox since L6.16. L6.15 seemed to have fixed the problem on Fox completely.

It appears the dropouts do not move syllables as they did in the past.

Over the next two weeks, the network programming schedules are filling with returning and new shows. We will be able to gather more information for a report by the end of the month.

Since you haven't released any new versions for our ViP612, I would encourage you not to until the problem is completely fixed on the ViP622/722 software. As noted previously, dropouts on the ViP612 do not affect the dolby thereby resulting in a less annoying dropout.

Two final observations. Reports at DBSTalk indicate that, at least for some, the dropouts have disappeared on the ViP622. There have been no reports of the audio dropout occurring with the ViP211 external hard drive DVR option.

Sincerely,

(ME)

If anyone else in the San Francisco Bay Area DMA has some new experiences with L6.16, I'm sure it would be helpful to Dish to see reports posted here.

So is it safe to assume that if you don't have a Dolby system (I don't), you won't experience audio dropouts (I haven't)?

Presently I have one 622 on L6.14.

If you haven't had them maybe you won't have them with the new software. But the dropouts on my 622 occur even when I'm not using the A/V receiver. It's just more annoying when using it and they cause the Dolby to cut out and in and out and....

Since you haven't released any new versions for our ViP612, I would encourage you not to until the problem is completely fixed on the ViP622/722 software. As noted previously, dropouts on the ViP612 do not affect the dolby thereby resulting in a less annoying dropout.

Since my 722 is still at 6.14 and is not hooked to a Dolby system, I can't say anything about 6.16. But, in regards to the quote above, I wish they would do something for the 612. The audio drop is alive and well and DOES affect the Dolby. While watching the BCS championship (Go Gators!), on Fox, the dropout was infrequent during the first half, maybe 5 or 6 times an hour. But as soon as the broadcast switched to the halftime show, the audio dropout became severe, so bad I had to mute the AVR and use the TV speakers. The Dolby was switching every 10-15 seconds, and continued like that for the rest of the game. I could even detect the dropouts on the TV speakers, but it was more of a click or pop.

I am going to move the 722 to the TV with the AVR, and hope it get's the update soon. The 612 is going to the bedroom, hope the wife doesn't mind a little audio drop!

Since you haven't released any new versions for our ViP612, I would encourage you not to until the problem is completely fixed on the ViP622/722 software. As noted previously, dropouts on the ViP612 do not affect the dolby thereby resulting in a less annoying dropout.

Since my 722 is still at 6.14 and is not hooked to a Dolby system, I can't say anything about 6.16. But, in regards to the quote above, I wish they would do something for the 612. The audio drop is alive and well and DOES affect the Dolby. While watching the BCS championship (Go Gators!), on Fox, the dropout was infrequent during the first half, maybe 5 or 6 times an hour. But as soon as the broadcast switched to the halftime show, the audio dropout became severe, so bad I had to mute the AVR and use the TV speakers. The Dolby was switching every 10-15 seconds, and continued like that for the rest of the game. I could even detect the dropouts on the TV speakers, but it was more of a click or pop.

I am going to move the 722 to the TV with the AVR, and hope it get's the update soon. The 612 is going to the bedroom, hope the wife doesn't mind a little audio drop!

Well, OK. Apparently your 612 in the Sacramento DMA is causing the dolby to dropout. I'm sure Dish/Echostar will see your post, but I'll followup on it.

I'd would like to get rid of it on my 612 as it looks like I'll be using it for Bay Area CBS and NBC which still dropout on my 722 after two upgrades.